


Duke Crocker Does Not Get Sick

by serendipityxxi



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Fever, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 04:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6549913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duke has the cold and gets 2 unexpected nurses. Set in late S3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Duke Crocker Does Not Get Sick

Duke Crocker does not get sick.

He might whine about a headache or a bruise. He might complain about a hangover, though not so much as he’s gotten older and wiser and better about hydrating and moderating. But he does not get sick.

So no one at the Gull knows anything is wrong, they just know he’s not coming in.

He isn’t answering Audrey’s phone calls. He never even replied to Nathan’s texts (and he always replies to Nathan, even when Nathan wishes he hadn’t). It takes Audrey three days to browbeat Nathan into checking on him despite all the bitching Nathan had done about Duke’s continued absence. They would have gone yesterday but they got caught up in a singing Trouble and Nathan wasn’t going anywhere near Duke during that.

So it is day three of no answer from Duke when the Rouge is clearly still in dock.

Something’s up.

Audrey bangs mercilessly on the hatch. When her hand gets tired Nathan takes over. Audrey calls Duke’s cell phone and lets it ring and ring and ring. Finally the door swings open. Duke stands there with his comforter around his shoulders, hair lank and plastered to his forehead, face pale and tired.

“What?” he croaks out.

“Are you sick?” Nathan asks suspiciously.

Duke rolls his eyes. “No Nathan, I was running a marathon,” he says and his voice is like sandpaper, it sounds like speaking hurts.

Audrey makes a sympathetic face that apparently makes him turn and head deeper into the cave of his ship. Never one to be deterred she follows and with a very put upon sigh, so does Nathan.

“Come in, make yourself at home,” Duke snarks. He keeps the blanket clutched tightly around him, his movements slow but clipped.

“Whatever you’re here for I didn’t do it,” he announces as they trail him down the hall. “I’ve got a good alibi, haven’t left the dock in three days. Cameras’ll show you my truck.”

Duke’s shuffling steps have brought him back to his bed, he sits huddled on the side of the mattress and though he is 6”2 and well into his thirties he looks nothing more like a woebegone little boy curled up against the headboard.

Nathan stands in the doorway, arms crossed, looking uncomfortable and… worried. Duke might feel more sympathetic if it didn’t look like Nathan had stepped out of a tv series about small-town detectives with that hair and that damn waistcoat whereas Duke is pretty sure he’s been wearing this t shirt for the last two days.

Audrey sits next to him and puts her hand on his forehead, tutting when she feels how hot he is.

“You, are sick,” Audrey announces.

“Why are you guys here?” Duke complains.

“Weren’t answering our calls, Duke. Parker was worried,” Nathan says.

Audrey rolls her eyes. She was the only one who was worried. Really.

“Have you taken anything?” she asks. Glancing around the room she spots no medicine of any kind, just a few water bottles laying around the foot of his bed.

Duke shrugged. “Just Tylenol,” he grumbles.

“When was the last time you had any?” Nathan is the one to ask the question. He’s stayed by the door though his eyes are raking over Duke from head to toe, worry clear in his voice.

Duke huffs a sigh. “Last night. I kinda ran out. I was going to go get some,” he says which is clearly a lie. Duke was in no condition to manage the stairs on the gangplank far less to drive to the drug store.

“Do you have a thermometer?” Audrey asks, getting up from the bed, a new light of purpose in her eyes.

“No. I don’t get sick,” Duke rasps, looking pathetic as he huddles into his blanket even more, his eyes are glassy and there’s a curl sticking up the wrong way on the side of his head that Audrey should not find as charming as she does.

“Right.” Nathan agrees.

“Look, can you guys go harass someone else? Isn’t there a Troubled person to defuse? Cat up a tree? I just wanna lay here. Quietly,” he adds with a pointed glare.

Audrey stands and drags Nathan out the door by his elbow.

Duke stares dumbfounded in their wake.

They really left.

Son of a bitch.

He’s glad to see how concerned they were now that they know he’s not dying. He didn’t want anyone seeing him like this anyway. Duke can’t remember the last time he combed his hair though he’s pretty sure he brushed his teeth at some point in the last twenty four hours out of defense for his tastebuds not a desire for personal hygiene.

He hears the main hatch clang shut announcing their departure and deflates a little more. It still would have been nice for them to have stuck around for five min…

The door to his room bangs open again and Audrey comes back in. “Nathan’s gone to get you more Tylenol and flu meds,” she announces.

Duke wonders for a moment if his fever has him hallucinating.

“He volunteered to go out of the goodness of his heart?” Duke asks with a roll of his eyes.

Audrey gives him a judge-y look but Duke thinks he’s got a valid point.

“How come you didn’t go with him?” Duke asks, watching warily as Audrey approaches. He might be sick but he’s not stupid.

Audrey rolls her pretty blue eyes and then commands, “Up,” like he’s some kind of dog.

Nathan might be her lapdog, jumping at her commands, but Duke doesn’t have to listen to her. She’s not the boss of him. He just wants to sit here and feel sick and sorry for himself.

Audrey glares and gets her hands around his bicep, tugging so Duke has no choice but to up or let her topple over. Duke scowls but rises sluggishly to his feet and lets himself be manhandled down the hall.

“Where’re we going?” he does not whine, that was not a whine.

“Shower,” Audrey dictates.

“But Audrey,” and that might’ve actually been a whine but his skin hurts, his whole body is sensitive and aching. Plus he didn’t think his legs would support him long enough to shower.

“I know,” she answers and it’s the sympathy in her voice that straightens Duke’s spine. Has him walking instead of shuffling the last few feet. He doesn’t need anyone pitying him.

“You’ll feel so much better, after though,” she promises.

“That’s what they all say,” Duke complains.

They get a folding chair into the shower stall somehow. Duke drops into it wearing his briefs for Audrey’s modesty, not his own. Duke Crocker isn’t ashamed of his body. Audrey turns on the shower and leaves him to it for a few minutes. Duke half-heartedly scrubs with the soap but mostly he sits and lets the steam clear his sinuses, lets the water pound down on him. Audrey of course comes in to roust him just as he’s ready to melt away down the drain.

Duke expects to be prodded and pulled in Audrey’s brusque way of showing she cares.

Instead she steps over the ledge and into the shower stall with him. She’s taken off her shoes and rolled up her pant legs, her toes aren’t painted, which isn’t a surprise. Audrey isn’t one for nail polish. Duke eyes her warily firmly stamping down on the twinge in his dick at the sight of Audrey Parker in his shower with him. She reaches past him - getting spritzed a little in the process - for the bottle of shampoo and instead of handing it to him she surprises him again, opens the bottle and pours some in her palm and sets her hands to working it into a lather in his hair.

The shampoo is an herbal blend he picked up at a farmer’s market down the coast, the scents of rosemary and mint rise to fill the air around them as Audrey does positively indecent things to his scalp. Her fingers are deft and sure, working with pressure in circles all along his aching skull. She rinses him free of suds with the hand nozzle, then reaches for the conditioner without him having to ask. It might not seem like it but Duke takes care of himself, he makes the extra effort. There’s no one else who’s going to anyway so he might as well.

Audrey works the conditioner in in silence as well, but this one is full of unsaid words.

Duke lets out a groan as her strong fingers work their way down the column of his neck and back up into his hairline. Audrey makes a pleased little huff of a sound that threatens to go straight to his dick.

“You could’ve called us when you first got sick,” she says derailing that train for him with the reproach in her voice.

Duke shrugs. “Figured you’ve got enough on your plate,”

“You dying of the plague is not something I want on my plate,” she scolds.

“I’m fine, Audrey,” he says, “just a little flu.”

“We didn’t know that though,” Audrey replies.

“Didn’t make you come any sooner,” Duke answers, the words slipping out before he can grab them back.

Audrey flushes, embarrassed? Her gaze drops to her unpainted toes. Even her feet are pretty, Duke thinks distractedly as he feels the heat of his own embarrassment, an entirely different warmth, in his cheeks and ears.

“I’m sorry,” he offers.

“Nathan said you were fine. Said you were probably running some operation or maybe you needed a break from us…”

Duke hates how unsure she suddenly sounds. “Hey,” he interrupts, “if I need a break, I’ll tell you,” he assures her. “I can look after myself, Audrey Parker.”

Audrey squeezes his bare shoulder, her hand is delicate and cool against his feverish skin. They both don’t mention the fact that she might be gone soon and he’ll have to look after himself anyway though they each think it.

“Your fever’s still high,” she fusses, using the hand held shower head to rinse the conditioner out of his hair.

“Nathan’ll be back soon.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have showered in hot water. Maybe…” her voice trails off.

“Hey, you’re really worried,” Duke rumbles touched by her concern.

“There’s something in me screaming about scarlet fever from looking at how red your cheeks are,” Audrey confesses, voice hushed against the back of his damp hair.

Duke reaches up a hand to wrap around her wrist. “It’s not. I’m fine Audrey, few days I’ll be good as new,” he rasps out.

“I know,” Audrey admits, “it’s been decades now since scarlet fever was eradicated I’m just…” Audrey takes a breath and steadies.

She steps out of the shower stall and passes Duke a towel.

The look she gives him is fraught with concern and embarrassment and Duke squeezes her fingers as he takes the towel.

“I’m tougher than that,” he assures her. “Even better now that you’re here,” he adds, giving her that measure of vulnerability on his part. He’s been seeing a softer side to Audrey Parker since they learned about the Hunter, he’s glad she’s seizing the days in her own ways. He just wishes there hadn’t needed to be a countdown for her to start.

They hear the clang of the main hatch and she leaves him to get dressed.

“Audrey,” Duke calls before she can get too far, “I didn’t realize you were remembering things from the… others?”

“I’m not,” she answers quickly, “it’s just one of those things I just sort of know but wouldn’t have been able to tell you why before…” she waved her hand vaguely around, “all this started unravelling.” She gives him a self-deprecating smile and heads off to meet Nathan.

***

Duke shuffles down the hallway a few minutes later in a clean t shirt, slowly rubbing his hair dry. He does feel better for the shower, closer to human again. He finds Audrey and Nathan in his galley. Audrey’s perched on the counter watching Nathan work the microwave. They both look oddly comfortable here in his space. Duke isn’t sure how he feels about that. He does know he’s cold again now that he’s out of the shower and his wet hair is making him feel even colder.

“If whatever that is came out of a can or a box you can keep it,” Duke grumbles at Nathan before Nathan can start grumbling at him.

Nathan doesn’t even turn around but Duke is sure he rolls his eyes.

“It’s from the Gull. Called Tracey, she put together the soup of the day and some rolls,” Nathan nods to the open container on the counter.

Duke is glad he doesn’t blush easily.

“They’re going to have someone run you dinner later, too,” Nathan adds as the microwave beeps.

Duke feels a rush of affection for his staff. They’re good people.

“Careful,” Audrey cautions as Nathan pulls the bowl from inside the microwave.

If it had been Duke who’d said that Nathan would have growled and insisted he knows that. But it’s Audrey so Nathan flashes her a grateful little smile instead that absolutely doesn’t give Duke a little stab of jealousy.

Nathan puts the bowl on a plate and grabs a spoon and plops it all down at Duke’s table. It’s not the takeout bowl from the Gull, it’s a real bowl from Duke’s cabinets. Nathan knows Duke hates eating from takeout containers. It’s a small gesture but coming from Nathan it means a lot to Duke. So he sits and picks up the spoon even though there isn’t much he feels less like doing. His head is throbbing, he can feel his fever spiking again, the relief from the shower was short-lived apparently, and his throat feels like he’s been swallowing glass so the idea of actually eating anything is pretty daunting. Duke mostly pokes at the soup.

Audrey wanders off down the hall and Duke’s curious gaze follows her ‘til Nathan clears his throat.

Duke glances up to find Nathan staring at him with his hands braced behind him against the cabinets.

“You okay?” he asks and there is actual concern in Nathan’s voice.

Duke resists looking around to check that he is in fact the only person in the room Nathan could be speaking to.

He swallows three sarcastic replies before he manages a careful, “yeah.”

“Should’ve checked on you sooner,” Nathan gruffs out.

And yeah maybe they should’ve. Duke could’ve been dead for three days, his skin floating in a tank of water somewhere for all they knew. Nathan’s apologizing though, he looks… hell he looks guilty, like maybe he realizes that. It’s possibly the most unlikely thing that’s happened to Duke this afternoon and Audrey Parker washed his hair for him not twenty minutes ago.

So Duke shrugs, gives Nathan an out. “Keep saying things like that Nate, people will start to think you care,” Duke teases, waiting for Nathan to growl in return and put them back on more well traversed ground.

“Good thing there are no witnesses,” Nathan deadpans, startling a laugh out of Duke.

The laughter hurts his throat but it’s worth it for the slow smile that spreads across Nathan’s face, even wider than the grin Audrey got and just as sincere.

The warmth in his chest has absolutely everything to do with the soup.

“Where do you keep the sheets on this tub?” Audrey demands from down the hall and Nathan pushes away from the counter to help her find them, leaving Duke to finish his meal.

He manages most of the soup though his hand trembles on the journey to and from the bowl in a way that Duke is grateful no one is there to see. He’s shuffled to the sink to rinse it out when his cops invade his kitchen again. Audrey scolds him away from the sink, decreeing Nathan will do his dishes as she browbeats Duke down the hall.

Duke laughs and lets her in large part because of Nathan’s indignant squawk at being given chores.

When he gets back to his room the sheets have been changed on the bed, the pillows plumped, the overheads turned off, the lamps turned on. Everything seems lighter and more welcoming, though that probably has a lot more to do with the blonde in the slightly damp jeans than with his actual room.

“Audrey…” Duke begins, he doesn’t know how to say thank you for what she’s done but she must see something in his face because she gives him a soft look and presses a spoonful of cough syrup and a bottle of water into his hands before he can say anything else. That’s his Audrey, he thinks with a smile. Sometimes she can just look at you and know. Duke used to find that habit of seeing right through him disturbing but now he’s come to appreciate it. He dutifully swallows the cough syrup while she shakes two pills from the new bottle Duke didn’t even realize was on the dresser and hands those over as well. Nathan bought him medicine and lunch. His mind is more than a little boggled by this.

Duke sits on the edge of the bed, his shaky knees are relieved to have the pressure off them. He swallows the pills, sips the water. Audrey runs a careful hand through his hair, combing it back from his face. It’s mostly dry already, and curling wildly, Duke has no doubt. She presses her palm to his forehead and makes a dissatisfied sound.

“I only just took the medicine, y’know.”

Audrey frowns at him anyway and badgers him back against the pillows.

Duke settles gratefully, the bed is clean, the sheets are soft and cool against his arms. He sinks into the mattress bonelessly and closes his eyes for a moment, relishing the comfort. He wonders what Audrey’s planning on doing as she didn’t appear to be getting ready to leave. He starts to think he should thank her again, offer her an out, it’s the middle of the afternoon, they probably have cop duties or something. It’s Audrey Parker though, she’s nothing if not full of surprises. There’s a dip in the mattress that makes his eyes pop open and Audrey settles next to him on top of the covers, shoulder to shoulder with his laptop on her lap, the log-in screen for Netflix already loading.

“That thing’s password protected, you shouldn’t be able to turn it on!” Duke protests.

Audrey gives him a Mona Lisa smile and sets about choosing a movie.

Nathan comes in a few moments later. “Called Laverne,” he tells Audrey, “they know we’re off duty til tomorrow.”

“Good,” she says like that settles something.

Duke watches Nathan pull the only chair in the room over to Audrey’s side of the bed and make himself comfortable in it.

“Don’t you guys have somewhere to be?” Duke demands finally.

“Yep,” Audrey agrees and presses play.

Duke is too tired to argue with that, especially when he doesn’t actually want them gone.

He stays mostly silent, letting Audrey and Nathan bicker about the movie choice and whether it’s physically possible to make a shot like that or not. (Duke comes down on the side of not). It reminds Duke of when Audrey first came to town and they’d spend their evenings at the Gull working on his and Nathan’s fragile truce. He hadn’t realized how long it had been since they’d had a night like that.

He watches them and he sees the heaviness in Nathan’s shoulders, the tension around Audrey’s mouth whenever she’s not cracking wise. The last few weeks haven’t left them unscathed, the next few weeks aren’t likely to either. He thinks maybe they needed this downtime as much as he appreciates having them here.

Duke falls asleep before the movie is even halfway over, his eyelids heavy and hot.

He wakes to the flickering blue light of a different movie playing on his laptop screen, the sun must have set some time ago as the room is full of deep shadows and shallow pools of light from the lamps. Nathan has fallen asleep in his chair, his socked feet propped on the edge of the bed. He’s snoring quietly and Duke is sure now they needed this time to relax.

Audrey is a soft, warm weight in the bed. Duke realizes he must have slouched down some, his head’s leaning against her hip and her fingers are still threaded through his hair. He won’t admit, even to himself, how glad he is that they stayed, that they’re still here. He stretches his toes and realizes for the first time in three days he feels warm. The chills are gone, his fever has broken.


End file.
